Ten Minutes
by Eliza4892
Summary: Follow up to Narrow Escape. Crossover with Lost. While on vacation, Meredith runs into a familiar face.


The boys had decided to do that fishing trip properly this time. Now, to define boys she only meant Derek and Burke. Apparently having everyone else there was just too chaotic. Derek had once told her that was the way it was supposed to be, that was the original plan before Burke had gone and invited half of the hospital. It was only supposed to be the two of them.

Except now, for some reason completely unknown to her, but something that was probably related to her near-death incident a few months ago, he wanted her to go with him. Meredith thought that kind of killed the boy bonding thing just a little bit, but all she said to Derek was that she would only go if Cristina did, because there was just no way she was going to spend five days drowning in testosterone. She needed someone to talk to, preferably someone who didn't smell like fish.

It was easier to convince Derek, than it was to convince Cristina. She didn't like the idea of being out in the middle of nowhere. To be honest, Meredith didn't think she would either, but she wouldn't knock it until she tried it. So she nagged and she pleaded and Cristina finally caved two days before they were supposed to leave.

This was not a camping trip either. Not like what Derek and Burke had tried the first time. They were a state down, in a cabin that you had to drive down a dirt road to get to. There was something wholly unnerving about that. But it was quiet, and she could actually relax without worrying about whether or not her pager would go off, or who was avoiding who. She didn't wake up to the sound of Izzie and Alex yelling because in the past four months since he'd moved in they still couldn't figure out how to properly coexist without getting in the others way. She slept in, rolling over and closing her eyes at the sight of daylight, knowing that the alarm clock wasn't set. It was a break, and one she'd needed for quite some time, but hadn't realized it.

That didn't mean it was perfect.

"Still no reception?" Cristina asked, looking at her from over the rim of her coffee cup.

Meredith glanced up from her cell phone, flipping it closed and shoving it in her purse, defeated. "Nope." She'd thought getting away from all the trees would help. Turns out they really were in the middle of nowhere.

It was the first day of their little vacation. Derek and Burke had left at seven in the morning so it was just her and Cristina, with nothing to do, and no food in the cabin. They had to do some grocery shopping. They found a little diner while looking for a store to do just that, and decided to stop for breakfast. It wasn't the best place she'd ever been to, but they served breakfast until noon, and was the only restaurant within twenty minutes of them.

"Hopefully they haven't killed each other yet." Meredith added.

"If they have at least you've got a quiet house to come back to," Cristina said with a shrug. "Why we don't have a landline I have no idea."

"It is very cut off. But everyone has to do this sometime. At least we don't have to sleep in tents." Meredith replied, watching the door swing open and wincing at the little bell that alerted the entire establishment whenever someone walked in. Even though that accounted for about seven people, including them. "At least we _get _to sleep."

"Yeah, while Bambi and everyone else get the cool cases. I swear if I missed something because of this…" Cristina didn't finish the last sentence, and frankly it was much more threatening that way.

"Relax," Meredith told her, the fact that Cristina probably hadn't taken an actual vacation since before she'd decided she was going to be the doctor to beat, if there ever was such a time, was becoming rapidly apparent. "How interesting can the surgeries be? We've got their top neurosurgeon and cardiothoracic surgeon. Everything major is just going to be rerouted to Mercy West."

Cristina gave her an even more annoyed look, if that was even possible at this point. "Oh great, so now we don't even get to hear about them."

Meredith rolled her eyes, marveling at how Cristina could manage to take everything the opposite way from which it was intended, and about to say something to that effect when something distracted her.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" The man behind the counter was asking the woman who'd just entered. Meredith had only picked up on it because it sounded like a pick-up line, and the man was far from desirable, but that was before she looked at the woman he was talking to.

Curly brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, a faint hint of freckles splattered over her nose, and all-too mysterious green eyes. She'd know the woman anywhere, because she'd never stopped feeling that pit in her stomach telling her that maybe she shouldn't have just let her run. For the entire week after the incident she'd been completely and utterly paranoid that someone would find out she had just let the woman go.

"I don't think so," the woman – Kate, that had been her name – muttered, and Meredith could tell that was trying to keep her gaze level with the man, trying to seem unaffected, but she could see the nervousness in her body language. The tenseness of her shoulders, the way her hand was curled around the edge of the counter, knuckles white.

"Are you sure? I know I've seen you somewhere…" the man leaned his elbows on the counter, eyes almost squinting at her, studying her. He didn't know where he knew her from, but Kate did. And so did Meredith.

Meredith didn't even think about what she did next.

Rising from her seat, and coming over to where Kate was seated at the counter near the kitchen, she put on a smile and a surprised expression. "Excuse me, but weren't you in my sorority? Dartmouth College, Delta Sigma Theta?" Truthfully Meredith hadn't even been in a sorority, but she recalled the name from conversations around campus.

Kate's eyes lit up. Whether or not she remembered Meredith didn't matter, it was the simple change of topics, and confirmation of her identity. "Yeah, I was." Kate looked down, almost apologetically. "I'm sorry, I can't remember your name."

"Meredith," she replied, easily, biting her lip, and thinking. The man behind the counter must have thought she was trying to recall the name; in reality she was trying to make one up on the spot. "Lori, right?"

"I'm surprised you remembered," Kate said, turning to face her fully, her back to the man. It was then that Meredith realized Kate recognized her. She knew what was going on. "Gosh, it's been so long."

"You should come sit with me, and my friend, we could talk, catch up." Meredith offered, knowing that if Kate left now it would be too suspicious. They had to make this seem real. She was prepared to play along for as long as it took, even if she couldn't explain her draw to this woman. Why did she want to help her so much?

"That sounds great," Kate replied, with a genuine smile, grabbing her own coffee and following Meredith back over to her table.

"Lori, this is Cristina. We're here on vacation," Cristina raised her eyebrows, adding to the confused look she already wore, "or what passes as a vacation anyway."

For the next ten minutes they took turns lying about all manner of things from their lives. Meredith was surprised how easily it came to her, bullshitting her way through an entire past, one she had never lived. And then Kate's cup was empty, and the man's focus was elsewhere, so they both figured it was safe, and she could leave.

"Well, I wish I could stay, but I really have to be going. I'm meeting up with friends in Portland, and I'm already late as is. But you should call me sometime." Neither of them bothered to actually exchange numbers, neither of them wanted to be able to contact the other or get more involved. It was just for the sake of being polite; the words themselves meant nothing.

"I will. Have a good trip." Meredith said, giving her another smile, as Kate rose from the table.

"Thanks." Kate responded, and while her voice was casual, the look in her eyes was anything but. Meredith nodded, understanding. And then Kate was gone, out the door, and out of her life once again.

"What was that all about?" Cristina asked, seconds after Kate left.

"Just helping out a friend." Meredith replied, dismissively, brushing it off, because she could never, never tell the real truth. Especially when she wasn't sure she knew the whole truth herself.


End file.
